


Empire Fall

by ilyena_sylph, Merfilly



Series: For Family [3]
Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Legends: Thrawn Trilogy - Timothy Zahn, Star Wars Original Trilogy, Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008) - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Background Character Death, Complicated Relationships, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-06-26
Updated: 2016-06-26
Packaged: 2018-07-18 09:42:32
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,443
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7309894
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ilyena_sylph/pseuds/ilyena_sylph, https://archiveofourown.org/users/Merfilly/pseuds/Merfilly
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>As Vader strikes, he moves the catalyst for his change to safety. None of the women involved in his life understand what is happening.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Empire Fall

Winter was the one who noticed the change in air-pressure, and realized that she and Leia were far from alone in the archive where they were trying, with little success, to access more records of the Republic-era Senate. Two small, cloaked forms approached, one of them holding out a message chip. No weapons were visible, save the claws on the hand holding that chip.

"What is this?" she asked, not letting her voice carry farther than needed to pull Leia out of the data she had been devouring.

Leia turned in her seat, and at the sight of the small, cloaked figure, the blue-grey skin around the message chip, shock flashed through her. The robe and stature were familiar, but that a nonhuman would have been in Darth Vader's personal quarters, trusted to be there when he hosted a guest? That was shocking to her, given how often she had seen Imperial troops mistreat anyone not human. "I don't know, but let's find out," she answered, rising to come to accept the chip from... the stranger. 

The non-human bowed to her slightly. "Mal'ary'ush," they said aloud in a reverent tone. "Our Lord bids you listen." The chip was handed over carefully, so those deadly claws could not hurt the skin of their Lord's child.

Winter filed that word away for research later, perhaps the next time they were aboard the _Tantive IV_ with Captain Antilles' protocol droid.

What was that word, Leia wondered, but she knew Winter would have it for later. She tucked the earbud back into place before she slipped the chip into the reader she'd brought along with her -- any message from _Darth Vader_ , she was not about to play where any other researchers or even droids could hear -- motioning to Winter to take the other earpiece. 

Winter did, even as she kept her eyes on the pair of non-humans. She was wary, and growing more so as the message opened.

"Greetings, Senator Organa. I have sent my loyal bodyguards to usher you, and your aide, to the safest place for you, as unrest is about to plague Coruscant. I insist you go with them, as I have promised your father you will be safe." Vader's tones were even, punctuated by the mechanical breathing apparatus. The message repeated once, and then the chip erased itself.

"He included me," Winter said, eyes going narrow. "I mistrust this." She could see it as a method of taking them hostage. Why would Bail be in league with Vader, ever?

"Mal'ary'ush, speed is needed," the messenger stated clearly in their soft, sibilant voice. "Come now."

"As do I," Leia answered, but even as she did she gathered the reader to tuck away, leaving the data-chips where they lay. She was frightened of the message, of the small beings, and of Vader... but something whispered to her 'yes', and 'go', and that was the instinct that never guided her wrongly. "But we're going to go with them." 

If Darth Vader wanted to take them prisoner or hostage, after all, there was precious little they could do about it. 'Unrest is about to plague Coruscant'.... what kind of unrest, and why? 

The pair moved so that the messenger was in front, guiding, and the other was behind. Winter wound up sliding her hand into Leia's, a common enough sight as they were considered inseparable and dear friends. It was a careful mask to reinforce Leia's youth in all eyes, so that she was underestimated, but right now this brought comfort for them both.

They had a speeder, and were so very careful helping both young women into it. The messenger was their pilot… and it did not take long to see they were going straight to Vader's residence Tower.

"...an interesting definition of safety," Leia breathed into Winter's ear, her fingers still tangled tight in her best friend's, as she looked around in the heavy traffic. There was, in fact, something... strange, in the air, and she pressed herself back in the seat of the speeder a little more. 

"Mal'ary'ush, safe soon," the second small being said, scenting her unease in the air. The speeder increased speed just marginally, as the driver reacted as well, though not so fast as to draw undue attention. 

"I think that is a title," Winter murmured, turning her face so she could return the discretion. "They seem deferential to you. What did you do or say to impress _him_ so?" This was a dangerous place to be in, to have Vader's attention at all, let alone with such edges around it.

"I don't know, Winter," Leia replied, just as soft, and shook her head a little. "I mean, I told you everything I could remember, and my memory isn't that poor, except compared to yours. Can you think of anything?

"But yes... I think it is a title of some kind." 

Winter considered, then shook her head. "No, I can't." She squeezed her best friend's hand tighter as the tower ahead opened a shield and barrier door to admit the entire speeder, with both closing behind them, sealing them in.

"Take you to safest quarters now," the messenger told them. "Much food, and good shields," he promised Leia, keeping the Basic words simple to minimize any misunderstandings. Failing their Lord was not an option.

"Thank you," Leia replied steadily, waiting for one of them to move from the speeder so that she and Winter could disembark. At least this place -- though it stood as tall as any other Imperial Residence tower -- was not hung with the wealth of entire worlds. Unlike the Imperial chambers themselves, those appalling and gaudy displays of conquests and power, this place was as clean and simple as a soldier's barracks. 

The pair both moved swiftly and gracefully out of the way, with Winter following Leia in their wake.

"Apologies, Mal'ary'ush, that there are few of us here for you," the messenger said. "Others will return as able, to insure your safety." 

The others of the clans, for the most part, had been dispatched to eliminate key officials and informants in a quick, decisive purge. All of those targeted were ones who could upset the Rebels' plans for a new government, and had to be silenced, in the Lord Darth Vader's opinion, as he had explained to them. His allies from the Noghri would be the Death Commandos themselves, as they were awaiting his presence for a chance to avenge their world at last from the duplicity of the Emperor.

Leia shook her head slightly, still following them, and answered, "There is no need to apologize." 

These small beings seemed entirely devoted to her safety, her protection. What had happened, between her father and Vader, that these people who he called his 'loyal bodyguards', and yet Leia had never seen before, spoke to her with such reverence, and seemed to so mean their words? "Lord Vader's message to me said that there was unrest coming to Coruscant, can you tell me anything of what he meant?" 

The small being bared teeth inside the cloak, a rough noise escaping them as they guided the women to a small, safe apartment. "Our Lord has chosen to take vengeance for us, for many others, and for himself. It is a dangerous time, but our Lord will prevail."

"Vengeance?" Winter asked, a cold chill on her spine.

The other one made a soft, hissing noise that Leia slowly realized was intended to be soothing -- the realization helped by the careful reach and pat of Winter's free hand with careful fingertips -- "All will be well, now. He has promised it to all the clans." 

'To all the clans'? 

That was an important kind of phrasing, and Leia wondered at it, though she, too, felt the chill she could almost see running up Winter's spine. What could there be that _Vader_ would wish vengeance on? 

"The unnatural one will die, and all will be right again," their messenger said, reassuringly, before they reached the small apartment that Leia and Winter both could see was outfitted as a bunker. "Inside now, no comms yet. Soon, when the hunt is over and it is safe," they added.

"Comms will not be functional anyway, if I am understanding what is about to happen," Winter said calmly, pushing herself into the clear-mind their governess had taught her. She was faced with the crystal clear realization that she had to hope for Darth Vader's success this night… or else they would certainly face extreme danger to be found in his quarters eventually. The small beings did not seem to think defeat was possible, and therefore did not have retreat plans, if she was correct in her analysis.

Leia squeezed Winter's fingers, before she nodded to the two beings, and moved to go inside. She knew Winter was thinking very quickly about something, wanted to know what... but these small people seemed to have the ears of cats, and she would not ask. She wasn't certain if they were in the frying pan, the fire, or a volcano's caldera, but whichever it was, she was by all the saints going to meet it calmly. 

"Who would we comm, anyway, Winter?" she asked, half-amused, finally letting go of her now that they seemed to be settled for the next... while. 

'The unnatural one'... could she, they, possibly be lucky enough that they meant the Emperor? No, impossible, the entire galaxy knew that Darth Vader followed the Emperor's whim in all things -- but there had been that mention of her father... 

"True, at this juncture," Winter said. She began to move around the apartment, both to see where everything was, and to be certain of the limitations imposed by their guardians. Surprisingly, they seemed to approve of her prowling, or at least to disregard it. More surprisingly, she found a charging rack with blasters and power packs set just out of sight of the main door. It was a very livable space, and when the blast doors closed, it had the feeling of being near-impregnable. There were, she noted, multiple air-flow vectors, yet none of the points she could see seemed to be large enough to allow humanoid access.

Leia did not follow, except with her eyes, as she went to get herself a drink and to find herself a place to sit. All of the seats were comfortable, if done in the same sparse style as Vader's own apartments... and all they could do now, was wait.

+++

The near-constant litany of Mando'a streaming out of Ahsoka Tano's mouth was to both hide her own pain and injuries as well as to cloud the confusion she felt over the fight. Darth Vader had taken the worst of the punishment, intercepting the lightning three separate times to keep it off of her.

She felt like a lost, scared kid on the inside, the one that had tried so hard for her Master, yet it was _Darth Vader_. She refused to be grateful, awed, or indebted to the monster that had slaughtered people she had once called friends, even if they had turned their backs on her.

The body of the Emperor had exploded, somehow, when they had both managed to get their lightsabers into him from alternate sides. The fight had lasted way too long, and security would be coming at any time. 

Ahsoka clipped one 'saber to her belt, holding the other hilt in her hand, and slid under Vader's arm to give him further support. "Point, don't talk." She knew the lightning had damaged his suit critically, and didn't want to have him collapse part way to safety. It was only because of that, she would help him, she swore inside her heart. He was _not_ her Skyguy any more, not a man she wanted to feel any emotions for.

Somehow, he was able to guide her, able to help her get them away from the Emperor's residence. With every bit of her Force sense turned outward, she drove him swiftly to the Tower he lived in, flanked at careful distances by those Noghri that had survived the assault. They had paid a heavy price for their vengeance, but the ones she had made eye-contact with after the fight seemed at peace with it.

As they reached the Tower, the larger information displays in the city were all coming on with a message from the Rebel Alliance, broadcasting for no one to panic, that the Senate would be moving to take control swiftly, away from planetary governors with their Fleet muscle. It was Mon Mothma's voice, once a respected Senator and known member of the Rebellion.

"Looks like Bail held up his side of things," she said, as she got them inside the bay and powered down. "If he's already got control of the planet comm system." She helped him out of the vehicle, letting the Noghri guide them inside, so she could try and fix his breathing apparatus before he died on her.

She hated that the idea of him dying bothered her.

He rasped an agreement, feeling his broken body trying -- again -- to shut down, but... his angel's daughter. He could not die until he knew that she would truly be safe. "Chamber," he told her and the Noghri that was closest. The hyperbaric chamber that passed for his bed was his only chance of survival now. 

"Yes, Lord," Patharakh answered, coming close enough to offer his shoulder. "The Mal'ary'ush rests now." 

Ahsoka helped, letting the Noghri lead the way. Getting Vader into the chamber, getting it ready to support him outside the suit took more time… and Ahsoka almost lost her resolve to keep hating the man that had, as far as she was concerned, killed her Skyguy when she saw the injuries the suit actually hid.

"Give me the gear," she said, anger in her voice despite her attempt to stay calm. "I'm not the best engineer, but I can probably rewire it for basic use," she told the Noghri, who of course refused to do such until Vader gave permission.

"Do it," Vader managed, lying still in the chamber, hearing -- feeling -- the flash of Ahsoka's anger and her faint, almost unwilling touch of protectiveness. Without his vocalizer, it was almost impossible for him to speak loudly enough to be heard, but his Noghri had sharp ears. 

He had re-designed this prison of his a thousand times, in his mind and in encrypted databanks, but the total vulnerability he would suffer through the process had made the idea unthinkable. He would be easy prey to any attack, with his prosthetics disconnected, his eyes and face subjected to the agonizing light of day, disconnected from the systems that turned everything he could no longer truly perceive into comprehensible data... but with it so completely fried, the prosthetics -- all but his own right hand -- almost slagged in any case... perhaps now.

Of course, that assumed he survived. 

The Noghri helped then to get the suit completely off and delivered to Ahsoka, shooing her out so they could seal the chamber as quickly as possible to provide the full life support their Lord needed. Ahsoka found the suit and mask to be heavier than she expected. The psychic weight of it did not bear thinking about.

She was not surprised to find a workbench and proper tools in a back room, but she was distressed to realize they had not been used in a long, long time. Ignoring her injuries for now, she found the diagnostic unit and figured out how to plug it in, beginning the laborious process of getting the suit functional again.

Why couldn't she just walk away?! She blinked angry tears away, glaring at the suit in front of her. She owed Darth Vader nothing but her hatred, for being everything her Skyguy wasn't! Yet she knew she'd spend all night and day repairing this damned armor and its mask, because…

...because somewhere in that broken shell of a man, her Master's goodness lingered.

Vader could feel her working, feel the skid of her anger and her tears across his mind, and he decided it was a good thing that he was in the hyperbaric chamber, his mask and the great majority of his armor in her hands, because it meant he could not do anything... rash. 

It took a few minutes before he realized that the link to the Kouhunin supply was broken, fractured, or deactivated, and he would shortly be in the kind of pain he had not felt since slowly immolating on Mustafar. If he could but keep his mind quiet, at least his body could not make enough sound to tell her. 

He had endured maybe an hour of suffering before the chamber opened, and his former Padawan slipped in with a needle and vial of some drug. "Tell your bodyguards that if I was going to kill you that I would have in the Emperor's room!" she growled, a flash of her sharper teeth in her deep-rooted anger at this situation. The Noghri were hovering dangerously close to her, untrusting because of how disrespectful she was to their Lord. "I can't work if I can still feel you!" she hissed, and he could tell she was resenting the connection between them.

He lifted one hand, waving his faithful ones back, even as the unfiltered air and difference in pressure had his jaws opening in a fresh spasm of the pain that was his almost ever-present companion, and his burned eyes tried to see her. //It is all right,// he sent to them -- they were quiet in the Force, but they could hear his words -- and they shifted back somewhat, before he turned his attention to Ahsoka, and spoke to her instead. 

//I am not projecting it deliberately. What is that?// Whatever it was, it was unlikely to have much effect, but... even if it was just for her own ability to focus, she had come with it. Now if she would just hurry, with the respirator so damaged it was a different shade of agony to breathe open air... 

//The strongest painkiller I could find in the medkit. It has a sedative in it, and should knock you out for at least an hour,// she answered him. Her words and emotions came through so clearly, and she had tears in her eyes as she readied a dose at twice what she normally would give a human. //I'll find a respirator and suit before I come in again, so it can be sealed behind me. I didn't think.//

She ached for him, and she hated it, but she would soothe the pain as best she could. 

//Why should you?// he asked, feeling strangely mild about the response. He had never intended for there to be hands other than his within this chamber -- that was why it was automated as it was -- and it was not as though she could have known. 

Was it her tears that were affecting him? No, surely not. He was stronger than that, had long since learned to ignore such weaknesses. Faintly, barely, he could feel her hand on the bodyglove, feel a slight difference as her needle found open skin and sank to a vein. 

Kriff, but he hadn't hurt _this_ much since Obi -- since Kenobi had left him to this. 

//Because I've felt you struggling to breathe since the second blast of lightning, you big bantha rump!// It had been far too easy to reawaken the training bond, to use it, to keep his movements in mind through that while she worked with him to beat the demonic Sith Master. Now…

...now she couldn't bring herself to close it off, needing to find some way to help him. She got the drug fully injected and pulled away, hastily retreating from him to get the chamber resealed. She had to lean against it, on the outside, closing her eyes.

Why hadn't she ever listened about stupid attachments?!

//Impertine...// he didn't quite finish the word before -- amazingly -- the sedative and painkiller worked to put him out, and the agony subsided to a low background pressure. 

Ahsoka took a deep breath as the pressure inside her subsided, and she went to get that suit repaired as quickly as she could. She would deal with how to help _Anakin_ once that was done.

"Kriffing hells," she snarled as she realized, more and more, the suit was so much a prison and impediment to ever healing that she was certain Vader never stood a chance of letting go of his anger. She sure couldn't, feeling that kind of agony.


End file.
